Dwelling Place

Singer (Female): Dwelling Place, Dwelling Place, Dwelling Place. You are my dwelling place, Dwelling Place, Dwelling Place. You are my dwelling place.

Voiceover (Male): Thank you for listening to the Dwelling Place, a radio ministry from Pastor Al Pittman of Al Pittman Ministries. The purpose of this radio program is to encourage you, strengthen your walk with the Lord, and grow. To support this program financially or learn more about the ministry, visit us online at alpittmanministries.com. That is alpittmanministries.com. Thank you for partnering with us. Now, here is Pastor Al.

Al Pittman: Now we come to the fourth lesson that we find here in surviving the storm. This is found in verse 29 and following, and that is to repent of pretense, of phoniness. Pretense. Verse 29 says, "Then fearing lest we should run aground on the rocks, they dropped four anchors from the stern," that is the front of the ship, "and prayed for day to come. And as the sailors were seeking to escape from the ship, when they had let down the skiff into the sea under the pretense of putting out anchors from the prow." They said, "We are going to go up here and let down some anchors from the prow of the ship," which is a little bit beyond the stern of the ship, but they were actually letting down the lifeboat.

Paul said in verse 31 to the centurion and the soldiers, "Unless these men stay in the ship, you cannot be saved." Then the soldiers cut away the ropes of the skiff and let it fall off. Amen. You have to repent of pretense when you are going through a storm. Pretense for the believer looks like, "Lord, I believe you, I trust you," and then by the time you get home, you are letting down the skiff. Amen. We are relying again on our own carnal reasoning.

The Bible says, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will direct your path." But we say, "Lord, I lean on you, I am trusting." We will sing the song, "Leaning, leaning, safe and secure from all alarms." We get home and start letting down the skiff, leaning upon our own carnal reasoning and walking in fear. This is what these men were doing. They were motivated by fear because Paul said we must run aground.

Sometimes the Lord says that you are going to have to suffer, and there are going to be some things. We say, "Amen, Lord, I will give up anything for Jesus." Then when the suffering comes, we ask, "Where is the skiff? Where is the lifeboat? I have to get out of this. I do not want to sacrifice; I want a costless discipleship." But Paul said you have to stay in the ship. Let us call the ship God's will, or you cannot be delivered.

Stay on the ship and stay in God's will. Pretense prevents our deliverance. Phoniness. If you really want to know what somebody believes, watch them in a storm. Anybody can shout Hallelujah, but watch them when they get in a storm. Those men who were letting down the lifeboat, the reality was that if they had gotten into that lifeboat, that skiff, the ocean would have destroyed them. The skiff was insufficient to sustain their life.

Our petty excuses and our carnal reasoning are insufficient in a storm to preserve our life. You have to stay in the will of God. Paul was actually saving their lives. What is the remedy to pretense and phoniness when we are going through a storm? The remedy is repentance. Repent of pretense. In other words, be real with God. You know God can handle it. There are things that if you knew about me, you would probably fall out of your seat. We would demand his resignation.

God sees those things and God knows me. He knows my name, and he can handle it. He does not fall off his throne. Sometimes we think God is going to fall off, but he is not going to fall off his throne. The storm you are going through is not God wondering what we are going to do. It is not God's first rodeo.

I was telling somebody this the other day. In this time we are living in now, people feel like panicking and like we have to do something. Rest in the Lord and trust in him. He was there with the Babylonians, the Assyrians, the Medo-Persians, and the Roman Empire. All through history, he has been there. He has seen atrocities, and by his grace, the sun comes up every morning. He has seen it all.

Yet he is still gracious and merciful. It is not his first rodeo, but it is ours. When you are going through that trial, you think God has to do something because this has never happened. You think he has to do something now. He is able to sustain you. He is able to preserve you if you will stay in his will.

Be real with God. Say, "God, I am afraid." There are times David said he was afraid. David cried out and said, "God, where are you?" God can handle it. Repent of pretense and be real with God. When you are real with God, cut away the skiff. Verse 32 says that they cut the ropes that were holding the skiff and it drifted away. Cut away the skiff of unbelief. Say, "Lord, I do not know how you are going to work it out, but I am going to trust in you, not my ability."

Have faith to believe that God is able to take what seems to be a disaster and use it for your good and for his glory. He is the God who is able to create beauty out of ashes. Amen. That is our God if we will trust him. In verses 33 to 38, as we move on, we come to the last lesson that I find here in surviving the storm, and it has to do with nourishing ourselves in body and in spirit. You may not think this is an important point, but I think it is very important for us as believers to remember this.

In verse 33, it says, "And as day was about to dawn," it is always the darkest before the dawn, "Paul implored them all to take food, saying, 'Today is the 14th day you have waited and continued without food and eaten nothing. Therefore, I urge you to take nourishment, for this is for your survival, since not a hair will fall from the head of any of you.'" And when he had said these things, he took bread and gave thanks to God in the presence of them all. When he had broken it, he began to eat. Then they were all encouraged and also took food themselves.

In all, Luke says, we were 276 persons on this ship. That is a lot of people. When they had eaten enough, they lightened the ship and threw out the wheat, the very bread they had been eating, into the sea. Nourish yourselves in body and in spirit. Again, very important. Because storms have a way of promoting the neglect of ourselves, both in body and in spirit.

When we are going through a storm, we do not want to pray. We do not want to read the Word, and we do not want to fellowship with other believers. We isolate ourselves and live like spiritual hermits. When we are going through a storm, we do not eat right. We sit up eating a bunch of junk food late at night with crumbs on the side of our faces.

I was reading a report by the Mayo Clinic that said, "Depression and diet may be related. Several studies have found that people who ate a poor quality diet, one that was high in processed meat, chocolates, sweet desserts, fried food, refined cereals, and high-fat dairy, were more likely to report symptoms of depression." The report goes on to say that the good news is that people who ate a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, and fish were less likely to report being depressed.

Take that for what it is worth, but it really is true. I believe what we often call a demonic attack is really an overindulgence in Little Debbie donuts. We sit up late at night eating those Twizzlers and donuts and wake up in the morning feeling depressed. What have you been eating? Like the guy I heard about who was giving up solid food for Lent for a diet of beer. Probably not a good choice.

Neglect of proper nutrition can affect one's outlook on life. You say that is not very spiritual. Well, draw your attention to 1 Kings chapter 19. The prophet Elijah had just had a great victory against the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel in 1 Kings chapter 18. Ahab's wife, the wicked Jezebel, was a fan of the prophets of Baal. She said because Elijah had killed many of the prophets of Baal, the sun would not go down today until she had killed Elijah.

Elijah got wind of it and took off running for his life. He finds himself in a wilderness, lying underneath what is called a broom tree. It provides a lot of shade. There he is found complaining to himself, feeling sorry for himself, wishing that he had never been born. He says, "I am no better than my fathers." Sometimes that reality comes and hits you, that you look in the mirror and realize you thought you were better than your parents, but you are just like them in a lot of ways.

He said, "I wish I was never born." He just wanted to die. Anybody ever feel like that? Don't raise your hand. He was done; he had thrown in the towel. This was a prophet of God coming off a mighty victory. An angel of the Lord appears to him. The angel commands him not to pray more. He commanded him to eat.

God cares about our physical bodies as well. He commanded him to eat because Elijah needed to eat. Sometimes when we are not eating right, our minds can play tricks on us. The angel appeared to the prophet twice. Elijah did not realize it, but he needed physical strength and nourishment for the tasks that God had ordained for him to fulfill.

The angel appeared to him the second time and said, "Arise and eat, because the journey is too great for you." He did not know that he was on the verge of breakthrough. He did not know that he was getting ready to enter into the most important phase of his ministry, that he would take the mantle and calling that God had placed on him and place it upon the shoulders of Elisha. He was not aware of that while he was feeling sorry for himself.

Get up and eat something because the journey is great. Take care of yourself. I believe the Lord is probably saying to some of us here today that you are not done yet. You have thrown in the towel and God threw it back at you. You have wanted to quit and isolate yourself. You might still come to church, but you think God is done with you.

He says, "I am not finished with you yet." Your life belongs to him because you were bought at a price through the blood of Jesus Christ. God is not finished with you yet. Therefore, nourish yourself and take care of yourself physically. Some people just drop out of society, stop combing their hair, and do not brush their teeth anymore. I just described a lot of husbands here, I am sorry.

Amen. But here is the deal: do not give up on yourself physically. Not everybody has to be the greatest athlete. It is not that at all. It is about caring for yourself. Why? Because God is still using your life. Nourish yourself, do not give up, and prepare yourself for deliverance. It is unbelief to neglect yourself because you feel like God is through and cannot use you. Yes, he can, and he will.

Psalm 27:13 says, "I would have lost heart unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living." Do you still believe you will see the goodness of the Lord? You might think your best years are behind you, but they are ahead of you. The reason I say that is because if heaven is before you, the best is yet to come. Amen. Praise his holy name.

Proper nutrition is good. Amen. We need to pay attention to that. We do not need to be some strict Pharisee about our nutrition, but we need to watch what we eat. This is the temple of God that he has given us to live in until we receive our new bodies, and we are to be good stewards of it. Also notice the spiritual part: in the midst of the storm, as we just read in the text, Paul gives thanks.

The storm is still raging. It was not like the sea was as smooth as glass and the birds were chirping. The ship is still tossing and turning, the waves are coming over the front of the ship, and all of these things are going on. Paul stands up, probably wobbling, and he breaks bread and gives thanks unto God in the presence of these mariners and sailors.

Language is a little salty and they might drink a little bit too much, and yet these men, when they saw Paul stand up in the midst of the ship and give thanks, they were encouraged. The world was encouraged to see Paul's faith. What a great lesson for us. Number one is that when you give thanks in the storm, it changes the atmosphere.

I'll give thanks when God gets me through to the other side. No, right now. It changes the atmosphere. I dare you to give thanks right now. The Bible says, "In all things, give thanks." Listen, not *for* all things. *In* all things. A friend of mine called me this week, and I hadn't heard from him for a while. Long story short, he was sharing with me part of his testimony.

He said he hadn't really lived the life he should live as a Christian, being too busy for God. He was an avid bicyclist and marathon runner. He went in for knee surgery and the knee got infected. He said after about 30 surgeries, the doctor told him they had to take his leg. He had the surgery and when he came out, they injected him with something that caused him to have a negative reaction.

He said, "Al, I died." He said he could see himself lying in the bed. He could hear what was on television and saw the nurse in the room. He was ascending. Then he heard a voice say, "Just relax and breathe." He said he came back to his body. That happened twice. The silver lining around that dark cloud is that he says he is rejoicing. Not for losing his leg, but that the experience brought him back to intimacy with Jesus Christ. Amen.

I pray that your experience will not have to be that extreme. But you know God has a way of getting our attention, and a lot of times he will allow storms to come to bring us back to that place where we have to be still and know that he is God. God is not finished with us. In the midst of the storm, you can give thanks and you can praise the Lord.

By breaking bread in the midst of the storm, Paul was basically saying to those who were watching him that this bread is not what sustains his life. It is God who is the sustainer of his life. I really think today in our culture and in these times in which we live, God needs more believers who are nourished and who care about their temple, but also who are nourishing their soul and spirit by giving God thanks.

The world needs to see us giving God thanks in the midst of the storm. Give God thanks on the job, at school, and wherever we are. Have thanksgiving on our lips because it encourages those who are around you, as Paul encouraged those seamen who looked on as he gave thanks in the midst of the storm. We have enough complainers out there. We have enough naysayers with anger and hatred. How about somebody giving thanks? Amen. Giving thanks unto our God.

In conclusion, the good news is that every storm will pass. Hallelujah. Trouble does not last always. While we are in the storm, we need to remember that God is with us, number one. Number two, know whom you belong to and whom you serve and worship. Number three is humble yourself, which means you have to run aground and be still and know that he is God. Number four, repent of pretense and get real with God. Number five, nourish yourself in body and in spirit.

Listen to the words of Psalm 18:2, and I will close. "The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold." The idea is that it is not the hold that I have on God so much, but his stronghold that he has upon me. Amen.

Singer (Female): Dwelling Place, Dwelling Place, Dwelling Place. You are my dwelling place, Dwelling Place, Dwelling Place. You are my dwelling place.

Voiceover (Male): Learn more about Pastor Al and his ministry by visiting alpittmanministries.com. Also consider supporting us financially. You can send a check to Al Pittman Ministries at PO Box 50584, Colorado Springs, Colorado, 80949, or visit us online. Thank you for your prayers and your support. Your generosity keeps this radio ministry going. Lastly, we would love to hear from you. You can contact us by emailing info@alpittmanministries.com. That is info@alpittmanministries.com. We look forward to hearing from you. Again, thank you for joining us and we will see you next time on the Dwelling Place. God bless.